A Planning Program for Worcester Polytechnic Institute: The
Future of Two Towers - Part Four: A Plan

XIII. FACULTY DEVELOPMENT AND ALLOTMENT OF FACULTY TIME

A. Introduction

A major consideration in any educational program is the faculty
required to execute it. In this chapter several kinds of faculty activity are
described with an indication of how faculty might allot time to the various
activities. This allotment must satisfy three conflicting objectives. First,
there is the objective of seeing that the program can be carried through from
the point of view of educating the students. Second, there is the objective
of determining the number of faculty and thereby the cost of the program.
Third, there is the objective of providing opportunity and reward for
intellectual growth of the faculty themselves.

B. Faculty Activities to be Considered

In three areas, Study, Study-Conference, and Conference, establishing
faculty duties is relatively straightforward. In the IS/P and advising areas, a definitive statement of duties is difficult.

1. Study. In the Study the student would be expected to do a great deal of outside work on his own. The instructor would be responsible for careful
preparation of reading and problem lists and problem solutions. The
instructor would require a ratio of preparation to class time of four.

2. Study-Conference. The Study-Conference should be given by a faculty
member well qualified in the field. In general the duties would include three
lectures per week, preparation of reading lists, and preparation of problem
lists and outlines of problem solutions. The instructor in charge of a
Study-Conference also would have the responsibility for overseeing the work of
the Conference instructors. The Instructor in a Study-Conference should have a
ratio of preparation time to contact hours of four.

3. Conference. The Conference is a 2.5 hours per week meeting of an
instructor and six or fewer students. It is in the Conference that
specific questions on the lecture material would be considered and
details of problem solutions would be discussed. It is in the
Conference that applications of the lecture material to areas of
specific interest to the student would be made. (A Study-Conference in
thermodynamics might have different Conferences for students
interested in chemistry, mechanics, and physics.) It is expected that
the Conference would eliminate much of the present faculty "office
hours" and detailed paper grading. Because the material to be
discussed and problem lists with indicated solutions would be the
responsibility of the Study-Conference instructor, the instructor of a
Conference would require far less preparation time, and a preparation
to class time ratio of one is suggested. It is recognized that a
significant fraction of the Conference work would be handled by
graduate assistants, and a ratio of two might be more appropriate for
beginning graduate assistants who would usually be attending the
Study-Conference lectures.

4. IS/P (on-campus). A definition of duties of the instructor is
difficult because of the wide variations in methods of operation. However, an
attempt was made to establish a reasonable time allotment by inquiring of
those faculty who currently handle a significant amount of IS/P students, "If
you were doing nothing else, and the students were doing nothing else, how
many students could you handle effectively on IS/P" The responses ranged
between five and ten.

5. IS/P (off-campus). WPI has had negligible experience with this kind
of activity. In general, WPI would retain control over the off-campus work,
and temporarily one full-time equivalent (FTE) faculty member and one FTE
graduate assistant have been assumed necessary for every 15 FTE students
working on off-campus IS/P.

6. Advising. It is clear that under the proposed plan advising would be
important enough to be part of a faculty member's load. The number of students
each faculty member can advise effectively varies widely. The subcommittee on
Advising Procedures recommended a maximum advisee/advisor ratio of 15. The
Planning Committee have used this
figure, since it coincides with the proposed student:staff ratio, and then
estimated that advising 15 students would require on the average 10
percent of a faculty member's time.

7. Committee Work. Time required for committee work depends on the
particular committee assignment and on the effort by the individual.

In general, it should be recognized that the duties of any
individual faculty member must be based on the best interests of WPI and its
students and not on any strictly enforced schedule of faculty duties. As
pointed out in XII, THE ORGANIZATIONAL CONCEPTS, personnel development would
be the primary function of the faculty group chairmen, and allotment of
faculty time would become one of their major concerns. Faculty are
professionals who must have time for their professional development. It is
only fair, however, that some guidelines for teaching activities be
understood. IS/P and research are closely related. Research totally unrelated
to the academic program should not be considered in determining academic
assignments.

It is recommended that WPI, as part of its faculty personnel policy,
require at least one month's vacation a year.

C. Estimated Time-Allotment for Various Activities

Examination of Tables XIII-1 and XIII-2 which follow will show
immediately that the Conferences would, comparatively, require a great deal
of time. One quickly recognizes, however, that there would be a considerable
difference in the time required between the first and second time one gives
a Conference.

Table XIII-2 shows that the proposed allotments attempt to eliminate
some obvious inequities in the present system by allowing time for
preparation, advising, and IS/P work. Some departments currently include
IS/P work in faculty effort reports, but the practice is by no means
uniform.

Combination "H." in Table XIII-2 is included as a possible
assignment for a half-time graduate assistant; this might be, however,
a heavy load.

The question as to whether the proposed allotment allows for
professional development of the faculty must be considered. First, the
allotments have been based on 45 hours a week. Second, the I _ and
Study-Conference activities would most certainly be in the area of the
faculty member's greatest professional concern. To a large extent, project
supervision by a faculty member currently requires spending endless hours
maintaining and procuring equipment and supplies and instructing students in
the use of tools and equipment. Under the proposed plan, most of this would
be eliminated by the support of one technician for one or two FTE faculty
members on IS/P work.

Table XIII-1
Examples of Possible Allotment of Time for Various Activities

Activity

Fraction of Load

Average Hours per week

Study-Conference

Lecture

0.067

3.0

Lecture Preparation

0.267

12.0

Conference

0.055

2.5

Conference Preparation

0.055

2.5

Study

Lecture

0.088

4.0

Lecture Preparation

0.356

16.0

IS/P

off-campus

0.067/FTE Student

3.0/FTE Student

on-campus

0.15/FTE Student

6.75/FTE Student

Advising

0.007/Student

0.3/Student

Committee Work

--variable--

Research

--see IS/P--

Table XIII-2
Examples of Possible Allotment of Faculty Time

Proposed Plan

Present Plan*

Activity Combinations

Fraction of Load

Total Hours per week

"Credited Contact Hours" per week

A.

2 S-C

0.668

30.0

6.

3 half-time IS/P Students

0.225

10.0

0.

15 Advisees

0.1

4.5

0.

Totals

0.993

44.5

6.

B.

1 S-C

0.334

15.

3.

3 Conferences in one S-C

0.22

9.

7.5

6 third-time IS/P Students

0.3

13.5

0.

20 Advisees

0.14

6.3

0.

Totals

0.994

44.7

10.5

C.

3 S-C

1.000

45.0

9.

Totals

1.000

45.0

9.

D.

2 S-C w/repeated section in one

0.735

33.0

9.

2 Conferences, one each S-C

0.22

9.9

5.

6 Advisees

0.042

1.9

0.

Totals

0.997

44.8

14.0

E.

3 Conferences in one S-C

0.22

9.9

7.5

15 third-time IS/P Students

0.75

33.8

0.

3 Advisees

0.021

.95

0.

Totals

0.991

44.65

7.5

F.

2 Studies

0.89

40

8.

16 Advisees

0.112

5.33

0.

Totals

1.002

45.33

8.

G.

1 Study

0.445

20.

4.

6 Conferences in 2 S-C's

0.44

19.8

15.

16 Advisees

0.112

4.8

0.

Totals

0.997

44.6

19.0

H.**

3 Conferences in each of 2 S-C

0.44

19.8

15.0

Totals

0.44

19.8

15.0

I.

1 Study

0.445

20.

4.0

1 S-C

0.334

15.

3.0

3 half-time IS/P Students

0.225

10.1

0.

Totals

1.004

45.1

7.0

*A "full load" by current reckoning is 12 "contact hours" per week.
** This is suggested as a load for an half-time teaching assistant.